by nANCI mEEK 2/26/00(to the tune In the Ghetto by Elvis Presley)
As the Rumours Fly
On a cold and grey New York night
A young man answers his door  in fright
Named Diallo
Don't believe the lies
'cause if there's one thing the Press won't slant
It's an angry mob when they start to chant
"Poor Diallo"

The Cops don't understand
He held a wallet in his Hand
He'll never grow to be an old man one day
I'm afraid for you and me
Is Justice Too Blind to see
How can people turn their heads
And look the other way
Four cops with powder burns
What you and me Al Sharpton knows
Is it didn't have to take forty-one blows
To kill Diallo
Four cops with powder burns
The cops they roam the streets at night
They know how to shoot
And they're primed for a fight
With Diallo

Then someone calls Bronx Station
The cops are on their way
He didn't run He didn't hide
They shot their guns and then they cried
As Diallo died

 
As a crowd gathers round a dying young man
face down in the street  a wall-ett in his hand
Named Diallo
As his mother cries
On a cold and gray New York morn'
A mother's heart is badly torn
For Diallo

Mr Diallo's mother Kadiatou (right)
called for calm. She wept in court
as the verdicts were announced. 
Also pictured: The Reverend Al Sharpton
(left) and attorney Robert Conason (centre)